Critical Political Economy Research Network (CPERN) 2018 Midterm Workshop

CALL FOR PAPERS – CLOSED

“Gender, Race, Class and Ecology in and through Critical Political Economy”

1-2 June 2018, Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Portugal

hosted by the IHC – Instituto de História Contemporânea, Universidade Nova de Lisboa

Capitalism cannot be explained by class alone. In the wake of the Black Lives Matter movement, alongside the reinvigoration of far right groups, the global women’s strike in Spring, the vast number of public and political figures guilty of sexual harassment, and environmental disasters such as devastating wildfires, floods and hurricanes, we need a critical political economy that can take account of these interconnected problems and pressures. The upcoming CPERN midterm workshop seeks to reaffirm the importance of class in relation to gender, race, ecology and migration. We are interested in how gender, race, class and questions of ecology intersect, and resulting overlapping oppressions, material inequalities, power relations and social struggles. This includes postcolonial and Marxist feminist approaches to political economy and the personal and ‘embodied’ aspects of political processes. Overall, we welcome contributions on a range of topics that explicitly link gender, sex, race and/or class to key themes and pressing issues in political economy, including (but certainly not limited to) the following:

• Feminist political economy, labour, social reproduction and race: In recent years we saw impressive interventions by Marxist feminists such as Silvia Federici, Tithi Bhattacharya, and Susan Ferguson. We invite contributions on the future of work; invisible, informal and unwaged (domestic) labour; labour, health and safety in logistics and retail industries; the role of migration and race; digitalisation and Gig Economy, precarity; and social reproduction in relation to austerity, neoliberalism or finance-led accumulation.
• Disruptive politics: There is an ongoing debate over the relationship between social movements/labour studies and critical political economy. We invite contributions that target the role of the state and trade unions in social partnerships and social movement unionism, and that explore (possibilities for) new solidarities and dual power structures.
• Sex, sexuality and political economy: Sexuality, sex work, sexual violence, male and female pleasure, menstruation, fertility and resulting social power relations often remain understudied in critical political economy. We invite contributions that address these issues and more.
• The political economy of ecological conflicts: We invite contributions that link ecological struggles, environmental degradation, climate change, natural disasters, the limits of fossil fuel to mass migration, inequalities and the future of capitalism.
• Finance, debt and the state: Ten years after the financial bubble burst, the financial sector is back with double-digit windfall profits, while global debt-levels are now far above that of 2008. We welcome contributions that address (regulatory) developments in the financial sphere, including debt creation, the growth and/or impact of debt, and resistance to debt.
• Power relations in academia: We invite contributions that address the various ways in which academia, higher education and teaching spaces each contribute to the reproduction of inequalities based on gender, race, class and other hierarchies; and ways in which these can be resisted.

We are interested in all of the above and more, and wish for the workshop to cover a wide range of topics. We welcome scholars with an interest in critical political economy, from a variety of countries, social backgrounds, and disciplinary affiliations, regardless of whether they are in academia or not. We are particularly committed to promoting the participation of PhD students, early career scholars, and activists. Limited funds will be available for scholars and activists in precarious situations (who cannot get other sources of funding) to support travel and accommodation costs. Please inform us if you may require help with funding when you send us your abstract.

There is no fee for attending the workshop. The conference language will be English.

Abstracts of around 250 words should be submitted to cpern@criticalpoliticaleconomy.net by 1 February 2018.

We hope that you will find this Call interesting – please also share with colleagues and students who might not yet be part of the CPERN community!

Feel free to contact us if you have any questions regarding this Call, or the conference in general.

Many thanks,

The CPERN Board

Caroline Metz, Anne Engelhardt, Phoebe Moore, David Bailey and Angela Wigger

The Critical Political Economy Research Network is Research Network 06 of the European Sociological Association.